The arts are part of a nation's identity, they are part of a nation's soul and when we look at a country from the eyes of people overseas they are part of a nations branding in the world as it were.

One of the things about federal politics is that it has been remarkably free of corruption.

I joined the Young Liberals when I was 16 and it was a good way for me to understand how the Liberal Party worked and to learn basic political skills and techniques.

The tyranny of distance is such an important element of policy and the allocation of resources.

It is a necessary precondition for the success of a referendum that there should be broad community consensus and bipartisan support for it.

The crime of bribery of foreign officials is an offence under the Commonwealth Criminal Code.

I don't really know a lot about these 'anti-protest' laws. I'm only vaguely aware of them, but I don't have enough detailed knowledge about them to comment.

I was President of the Queensland Young Liberals in 1981.

I was interested in politics since the age of 14.

There have been 44 constitutional referenda in Australia and only eight have succeeded.

The modern Australia, the Australia of the 21st Century, Malcolm Turnbull's Australia has nothing to do with the kind of protectionist and xenophobic attitudes that Pauline Hanson represents.

To be in Jesus' easy yoke is an easy way of doing hard things." (p. 202)

The path to freedom is illuminated by the bridges you have burned, adorned by the ties you have cut, and cleared by the drama you have left behind. Let go. Be free.

Buddhism has in it no idea of there being a moral law laid down by somekind of cosmic lawgiver.

Whether or not you write well, write bravely.

I thought I might have to give up art, but I couldn't think of anything else to do.

Life is too short to live with any but the greatest books.

I would rather be having a burger and beers with my mates but I can't do that when I know I've got to dance.

I cannot tell her I have been moping over a broken heart when I have worked so hard to convince her I have no heart at all.

Loss takes up inside of everything sooner or later and eats right through it.

Virtue is the master of talent, talent is the servant of virtue. Talent without virtue is like a house where there is no master and their servant manages its affairs. How can there be no mischief?